


After Stay

by Lunicea



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adorable, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, F/M, Gay, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:53:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25693843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunicea/pseuds/Lunicea
Summary: Set after the last episode of she-ra, focusing on Catra's redemption and her relationship with Adora.
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra), Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra), Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22





	After Stay

Catra felt both the weight of the task they'd brought upon themselves and the lighter than air feeling of Adora's hand holding hers tightly as the group huddled in together looking out at Etheria as the world was bathed in a gentle glow hued by light pinks and deep sunset orange. Bring back magick to the universe huh? It was a burden to bear for sure, but even with Catra's doubts, it only took a glance at Adora's goofy smile as she laughed and squeezed in shoulder to shoulder with glimmer to make the tension ease from her throat. Her hand never left Adora's, even if her claws scraped against her knuckles now and again, the contact causing a soft hint of a purr to rumble in the girl's chest. Heard by Bow who gave her a knowing smirk which quickly turned into a teasing smile he had no issue hiding when a blush coated the cat's cheeks. Making matters worse he mouthed the words 'so cute' as she defensively curled her tail around Adora's leg. 

"I am not cute!" She hissed, lunging forward to shove the archer's shoulder only to have her arm caught by the blonde next to her. 

"Yes, you are!" Adora challenged, laughter present in her voice as Catra yowled and attempted to get out of her.... Adora's grasp. Only managing to get both of her wrists pinned above her head as the two rolled in the grass, unable now to contain her own short burst of giggles at Adora's flushed face. 

"Alright lovebirds!" Glimmer shouted, pulling Adora off by the back of her jacket. "I say we have a party at Brightmoon after we escort anyone with injures or stuck chips to the nearest hospital."

Her voice turned more serious then. "I just hope no one was lost... We've had enough casualties. " Glimmer grimaced when she realized that she had erased the laughter and joy of their victory from moments before. Catra's ears arched down at the mention of what was more than likely her doing, but before she could fully comprehend the weight of it all she felt Adora's soft hand slide up to gently hold her arm and give her elbow a small squeeze. 

"Maybe She-ra's magic healed everyone?" She asked, trying her best to smile despite how awkward she appeared as hopeful eyes scanned Bow and Glimmer's faces. 

"We can't be sure, but, I hope your right." Bow sighed, adjusting the strap to his sheath. He set his hand on Glimmer's shoulder and gingerly traced the lines on her armor with his thumb. 

"Adora, you take Catra on Melog and Swiftwind to the other kingdoms and take a toll of anyone in need of medical attention, Bow and I will round up anyone near bright moon and setup infirmaries in the spare rooms in the castle. Once everything is set up we can transport people here." Glimmer's voice carried authority to it as she let her fist come down on her hand with a hopeful smile on her plump lips. 

"And afterwards! We celebrate the defeat of Horde Prime!" That earned a small smile from Catra and an even bigger one from Adora, when the blonde looked down to Catra bearing that stupidly gorgeous smile the cat couldn't help but shove her face aside and laugh a little with the others, despite the pain forming in her chest. 

Glimmer raised an eyebrow to Adora which was quickly met by a blush from the blonde that confirmed her thoughts. A few more exchanges between them were made with short goodbyes as they went their separate ways. A little while later, Catra found herself holding onto the very defined waist of She-ra as they flew on Swiftwind, looking out at the world now bountiful in magic. Melog had shifted into a smaller form of themself, lounging contently around She-ra's shoulders 

"Hey, Adora?" Catra murmured, peeking around the muscle-bound arm of She-ra. "How many people were... ya know.. at Salineas?" She tried to catch the powerful blue's that She-ra bore, but the woman didn't meet her gaze. 

"There were few who weren't injured, I'm not sure of the number but... Some didn't make it." There was something off about her voice, perhaps a bit of spite, maybe disappointment, it was enough to make Catra loosen her grip on She-ra's middle, only to have the paler woman put a hand over Catra's receding arms. 

"Hey, your different now Catra, your trying, and you're getting better. Just, know that okay?" Catra looked up to the pleading blues that looked down at her, She-ra's form had twisted enough on Swiftwind's back to loop one strong arm around Catra's smaller body. Catra sighed and leaned into She-ra's chest, finding comfort in the steady heartbeat and the wind flowing around her form as they flew. 

"I-... I want to be better Adora I just... what if they don't give me a chance?" Catra's bi-colored eyes came to a close as She-ra's hand lightly cupped her cheek, nails scratching the scruff on the girl's jaw. 

"Even if they don't, promise me you won't stop trying, please?" Catra sighed as she leaned into the comforting hand that held her, lashes parting to see She-ra's sculpted features watching her with a pleading look in her eyes. 

"I promise." She whispered, feeling her cheeks grow feverish as the woman leaned in, but felt herself a little disappointed when she felt her warm lips press against her cheek rather than meeting her own. Nonetheless, it drew a purr from Catra's chest. 

"I hate to interrupt you two but we have arrived!" Came the few notes to chipper Swiftwind, Catra would still never get used to the fact that the horse could talk, then again Melog's dialog still surprised her at times. 

"If you'd be more comfortable, you can go invisible with Melog?" It was a nice suggestion, but it just made Catra's chest constrict more, even Adora admitted it would be a bad idea for Catra to show her face to a crowd, how would she even handle a party at this rate? 

"I guess." Catra sighed, feeling Meglog's teal tongue brush against her cheek as the being grew back to their full size and wound themselves around Catra's form, rendering them both invisible, but before Catra could dismount from Swiftwind, She-ra's hand carefully held her waist, lightly touching her forehead against Catra's and whispering to be safe. 

"Always am." She replied cheekily, reaching up and shoving She-ra's face away before she could be captured in that bright smile for any longer. She hopped down from Swiftwind's back and onto Melog's taking off through the crowds looking for anyone with injuries or visibly struggling. She heard the collective cheering for She-ra off to her left, and the collective gasps and giggles from children as she only imagine She-ra doing something big and grand to capture their attention. Probably lifting a house or something equally as impressive. 

As Catra went through the square she spotted a child, maybe around five or six trying to lift a fallen beam off of their sibling, A little girl that couldn't have been older than eight. Melog came to a stop a little bit from them, the invisibility shield slipped away from Catra as she tentatively approached. The boy trying to lift the beam sniffled and cried out when Catra came into view.

"Hey! Hey it's okay shhhhh I'm here to help." She hushed, crouching down to the boys level she placed her hands under the beam with him, grunting as she lifted upwards enough for the girl trapped below to scramble out. Catra tried to reach forward and help her up, but the brother locked his arm around his sister and the two hobbled away before she got a chance to look at the girl's leg. She frowned, jogging forward to try and stop them. 

"Hey wait!" She called, getting down on all fours so she could sprint ahead of them and stop them in the trail. "Hey its alright, wheres your parent? I can help you find them." The girl looked at her skeptically, cheeks blotchy and covered in tear stains, snot dribbling down her nose as she held onto her brother. Her leg was bent at an odd angle at the knee, splinters and small trails of blood went along the child's shin and was enough to make Catra grimace. 

"Go 'way!" The brother shouted chubby cheeks puffed out protectively even though his knees were wobbling. The sister put one shaking hand on her brother's arm and whispered something that Catra couldn't quite catch, but it hardly mattered as the girl turned to look up at her. 

"Papa went to look for Daddy, H-he went that way." She mumbled, pointing a pained finger in the direction she'd last seen her father. She sniffled and wiped her nose, eyeing Catra skeptically again. "Y-you really good now?" She asked, and Catra felt her heart warm at the hopeful expression on the girl's face, even though it was covering a mask of pain considering her broken leg. 

"Yeah... Yeah, I'm good now." 

~

Adora clenched her jaw, resulting in a bit of sweat from her brow as she healed a man suffering grave wounds to his stomach. Watching as the blood around him faded into a mostly healed scar along his abdomen. He had been the most serious of the people here, thankfully there were no casualties. And with this being the closest town to the battle, she hoped there was nothing more serious than this with the places to come. 

"Thank you She-ra!" A woman wept as she cradled her husband's sleeping face in her arms. Adora gave her a nod and aided them in lifting the man into the back of a fixed up wagon. Containing injured civilians to be transported to Brightmoon.

"Okay is that-" Adora's voice was cut off by two men running to her, gripping She-ra's arms with desperation. 

"Our kids! Two, a girl and a boy! They aren't in the house the door collapsed!-" Adora quickly shushed them, placing her hand's on their shoulders she started to ask for directions to the house when a voice cut through the crowd. 

"Hey, Adora." 

There was a collective gasp from the crowd as Catra came forward with the girl cradled in her arms, careful to support her broken leg without hurting her further. The boy waved excitedly to his dads' from the back of Melog who'd been happy to give the boy a ride. The men quickly rushed forward, the taller of the two taking his daughter carefully from Catra's arms and cooing over her while kissing her knee as if it would make it better. While the other was struggling to get his son off of Melog without the kid begging to keep the magic space cat. 

Catra tried hard to ignore the whispers and murmured going about the crowd, explaining that it was no big deal to the dads before retreating to Adora's side, Melog done with their fun had also returned to leaning against Catra's calf, mewing happily to her while pushing their snout against her palm. 

"Attention everyone! We are having a celebration at Brightmoon for the defeat of Horde Prime! Please help us get the injured there as soon as possible, there will be medics to greet you at the door. We will rebuild any damage done to your homes, we will restore Eitheria!" The crowd cheered at She-ra's powerful voice, forgetting momentarily that their ex-enemy was slightly hidden behind the tall woman. 

They went around more of the surrounding towns, the princesses were handling their respective kingdoms and any town near them so that left Adora and Catra to handle the ones nearest to Brightmoon. Catra had decided to stay invisible the rest of the time, helping pick up rubble when she had the chance and sending in Melog rather than herself if someone needed a lift to the wagons. She didn't feel comfortable showing herself again, even if it didn't go too badly at the first village, who knew what could happen if the situation didn't involve injured children and very understanding dads? 

It was mid-afternoon by the time they had finally been through each of the villages, with the battle against Prime taking up most of their night, and almost all of the day before, Adora was struggling to keep up the form of She-ra, especially after healing so many people. Catra rubbed her eyes, yawning as Melog helped her onto Swiftwind's back, the alicorn also showing signs of exhaustion, but he'd had the privilege of napping. 

Catra leaned down and helped Adora sit in front of her, watching as she shifted back to herself and lazily slung off her jacket. Tying it around her waist she ran her fingers through her loosely held together ponytail irritably. 

"Why don't you sleep on the way back? I promise I won't let you fall." Catra murmured, hands hovering just behind Adora's waist for a moment before committing and slipping her arms around her toned middle. Resting her cheek against the back of the blonde's neck. 

"You sure? You seem tired too." 

Catra snickered, turning to nuzzle her nose into Adora's shoulder. "Yeah but, I'm not the one who turns into a giant woman and lifts houses." She teased, maybe it was the fact that she was tired, but Adora wondered if Catra had always been so affectionate. Then again, they'd gotten quite a bit closer in the past few days than she ever thought possible. 

"Maybe, a little nap wouldn't hurt..." Adora agreed, feeling her eyes slipping closed as she spoke, leaning back against Catra's chest. Smiling sleepily at the warmth of the girl's breath against her cheek. 

"Sweet dreams princess." Catra murmured, adjusting herself so Adora could comfortably lean against her, securing her arms around the blonde's frame so she wouldn't risk falling. She felt Adora sigh into her, her bangs had escaped from the poof in her hair to tickle the exposed part of Catra's chest. It was nice, and with Swiftwind's smooth flying, it was hard for Catra not to fall asleep as well. She chose to keep herself distracted by playing with Adora's hair, accidentally breaking her hairband when her claw slipped across it. Though it only resulted in more hair for her to occupy her time with. 

When Brightmoon came into view, Catra saw a mob of people outside the doors, some holding up She-ra dolls and some children even dressed as the princess of power. 

"Uhhh, hey Swifty? Is there like, a way into Adora's room from the sky? Like a window or something?" Catra asked, looking at the castle wearily for a moment, did it have to be that bright? Even if it was in the name. 

"OH! We should go in through the balcony, the waterfall is GREAT for drinking, and sometimes there's a platter of appless-..." Catra mentally groaned and blocked out Swiftwind, the horse never did fail to get on her nerves when the conversation turned to apples. They landed without too many problems on Adora's balcony, Melog slipped off of the horse's rear and made their way under Adora's bed, giving a soft mew before curling up for a nap just as Catra planned to do. 

She contemplated waking Adora, wondering if she would be able to carry her to the bed, though she didn't get to choose when Adora suddenly stirred. Leaning up from Catra's chest and squinting around the room. 

"You can-" She paused for a yawn. "Borrow some clothes from... um." She blinked, rubbing her eyes for a moment and pointing to the half open closet door. Clothes were tossed around, white undershirts crumpled the ground while a sports bra had been tossed half hazardly onto the handle, Catra could only guess Adora had little time to pick up after herself. Catra slowly pulled the door open, flicking her bra off the handle with her claw she rummaged around until she found an oversized white shirt, it was a soft cotton with a wide neck, different from Adora's usual skin-tight apparel. After a bit more searching she found a pair of dark grey spandex that would work, wondering if Adora would mind her cutting a hole in the back for her tail, oh well, she'd find out later. After getting changed she walked back into the room to find Adora already curled up on her bed in a pair of red shorts and a loose-fitting grey tank. 

Catra smiled a little, running her hand through her short hair for a moment, almost forgetting how thick it used to be. It defiantly felt different, lighter. Adora's form twisted a little on the bed, ignoring the bits of hair that invaded her vision she offered Catra a small smile, patting the space in front of her on the bed. Catra was hesitant at first, but ultimately decided that it wouldn't be so weird, they'd shared a bed before, haven't they? Catra gave out a sigh and crawled on top of the covers, laying on her side with her arm tucked under the pillow nearest her head. Adora held her eye for a long while, slowly, hesitantly, she reach out and wove her fingers into Catra's tousled hair. Mesmerized for a moment at the way the dark locks shifted between her fingers and caught in the light coming through the balcony window. 

Catra's eyes slid closed for a moment, enjoying the warmth of Adora's hand as it combed through her hair and brushed against her ears. Drawing a purr from the feline's chest. 

"Thank you." Adora whispered, causing Catra's brows to come together, looking at Adora's features once more as they held something she didn't see all too often. It was a sadness, but at the same time, she looked happy. How could she display such conflicting emotions so easily? 

"Adora... I-" Adora shook her head ending Catra's dismissal by brushing her thumb over the girl's lips. 

"No, Catra, thank you. I-if you hadn't been there... You saved me." Adora murmured, her hand slipping down from Catra's hair to cup her cheek. Catra felt her eyes begin to sting, her gaze like Adora's had become slightly squinted, both of them trying to conceal the mist growing over their iris. 

"I promised you, a long time ago, that I'd look out for you Adora... And... I couldn't- I couldn't lose you again, seeing you like that I just." Her voice trailed off with a sigh, turning a little so she could press her nose into Adora's palm. "I didn't want it to end before I got the chance to make things right, to do right by you." She whispered, resting her hand against Adora's as the blonde leaned forward, placing a gentle kiss on Catra's lips. It was chaste, barely lasting more than a moment, but it was enough to make the knots in Catra's chest ease. 

"You won't lose me Catra, I'm an idiot remember? I need a smart ass like you to set me straight." She teased, drawing a small chuckle from Catra as she brushed her nose against Adora's. "I love you." She breathed, causing Catra's purr to increase in volume, curling into Adora's form. 

"I love you too." She whispered voice muffled as she nuzzled her nose into the crook of Adora's neck. The blonde's arms loosely slipped around Catra's smaller frame, enjoying the way her tail wrapped around her leg, and how her short hair brushed against her cheek. She was warm, and soft despite the girl's claws kneading into her back. With the lulling rhythm of Catra's purring and Melog's soft snores, Adora found her eyes slipping closed, lazily pressing a kiss to the top of Catra's head before finally slipping off to sleep.


End file.
